Gabriel Bortoleto vows to end eight-year wait after snapping F1 streak

Gabriel Bortoleto has pledged to stop an eight-year-long points drought for Brazilian drivers in F1 at the Austrian Grand Prix.

The 20-year-old will line up in eighth position at the Red Bull Ring, whilst Stake team-mate Nico Hulkenberg will occupy the final spot on the Spielberg grid.

He admitted reaching Q3 for the first time in his F1 career was a weight off his shoulders, having comfortably got through to the final part of qualifying, going fifth-quickest in the session's middle segment.

If the F2 champion can secure the first points of his F1 career, he will become the first driver from Brazil to score points in the championship since Felipe Massa finished tenth at the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the final race of his own career.

Stake introduced upgrades in Spielberg, with an updated floor and diffuser and a new rear wing assembly. Bortoleto credited that development, as well as his love for the circuit in Styria, for his impressive qualifying display.

"It's a lot of weight off my shoulders, for sure. I feel like I needed to get it [Q3] at some point," he told Viaplay. "And I feel like I've been doing a good job [for] a few races in quali[fying], but always missing Q3 by half a tenth, one tenth, you know?

"And we brought this new upgrade, it's a track I really like. We put everything together. We went to Q3, I think, in P5, so it felt amazing to be also in Q3 with some margin - it was an amazing feeling, not being almost out."

Bortoleto explained how early in the qualifying session he felt a strong result was possible as his C45 was "spot on" underneath him.

"I felt like after my second lap in Q1, still with the used [tyres], because I did a new and then a second lap on that set, and it was a very good lap," he said.

"And I was like, 'okay, the car is spot on', and we nailed it. So I knew if I did a good job driving and put everything together, we would do a good job. And I felt like we maximised everything."

Turning his attention to the race, Bortoleto insisted that a points finish is achievable in the race, even if there are drivers around him, like Max Verstappen, he will not be able to compete with.

"I think this weekend, we can actually fight for it," he said. "The people that are around us, well, [Max] Verstappen not really, because I feel like he's gonna go forward... But yeah, for sure we can fight for it."